Smell My Pain | A Dreamnotfound Story

Chapter 8

TW // Drugs, Mention of Abuse, Alcoholism

Nick knocked on the oak door hurriedly. He did not need to wait long, as the door swung open to reveal a tear stained George. He rushed inside, feeling a ward pass him by. The minute he stepped through the doorway, he heard the most heart wrenching sob he had heard in his entire life. It was akin to the cry of a phoenix, just less majestic and more distraught. He now knew why George called him over.

They went over to the dining room and saw Clay crying in pain. He had never seen his friend so emotional before. He felt he was interrupting a moment between George and Clay, but never mind that now. He had to get to work.

Nick attempted to carry Clay up, but when he reached out to grab him, George held back his hand.

"The reason why he's in so much pain is because our fingers brushed against each other. I don't know if it's my touch that's triggering him, but let's play safe."

Nick nodded.

"Then we have to levitate him, we can't leave him here. Do you have sleeping pills?"

"Yes, I think I do."

"Crush them up and put it in warm water. He sleeps in the guest room right?"

"No, it's… it's my bedroom."

"Is it upstairs?"

"Yeah, first door to the right."

"I'll bring him up, you prepare the pills, okay?"

"I'll do it."

George shakily went to the pantry and grabbed a bottle of sleeping pills. He took two and crushed them up with a fork, his hand trembling. Finding the hot water dispenser, he poured some hot water out, putting the powdered pills into the water. He quickly went up the stairs and went into his room. Clay was laying down on his bed and Nick's eyebrows were furrowed.

"You have the water?"

"Yeah."

George passed the glass to Nick, who with a wave of his wand made it disappear.

"I just spelled it in him. Your dad is a wizard right?"

"Yes, he is."

"Good, we won't get caught by the Ministry then."

Clay's heavy breathing eventually slowed down as the medicine did it's work. The two boys carefully tiptoed out of the room, making sure not to wake the sleeping boy up.

"Do you have breakfast? I haven't had mine yet." Nick asked.

George suddenly became painfully aware that he too had not eaten anything for the past hour and his stomach rumbled.

"I have pancakes. Wanna eat at the couch?"

George had absolutely no desire to eat at the dining table ever again. Besides, it was in a mess and they both were not in the mood to clean it up.

"Sure thing. I'll help you take the pancakes."

They both got a stack of cold pancakes on their plates and went to the couch. George got butter and brought it to the coffee table.

Awkward silence ensued.

"George? Could I ask you a question?" Nick's words cut through the tension like a hot knife in butter.

"Fire away."

"Why is Clay living with you?"

George was silent for a few moments, thinking on how to word his answer. Finally giving up on a way to make the truth seem less harsh, he spoke.

"Clay's dad abuses him at home. The first day we met on the Express, I never smelt whatever bullshit spell I told you guys. I smelt crucio."

Nick gasped in shock and his eyes widened.

"Why didn't you tell anyone?"

"He told me not to!" George yelled in frustration.

"That's what you two were talking about. The first day, when y'all hung back."

"Yeah."

Nick bit his lip.

"So he's staying here to escape his father?"

"Pretty much."

"Won't his father know if he doesn't come back?"

"I mean, Clay told me his father was a deadbeat drunk and didn't give two hoots about him so I guess not. Besides, usually you can stay in Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays."

"True. It's not like his father put a tracking spell on him, he'd probably be too drunk to do that."

A switch flipped inside George's brain.

"What did you say?"

"Uh… he'd probably be too drunk to that?"

"No, before that."

"It's not like his father put a tracking spell on him."

George stood up quickly, abandoning his breakfast. He went inside his Dad's office and pulled out a musty old book. He brought it out to Nick and flipped through the pages. He stopped abruptly.

"Did you find anything?"

"Yeah. Clay's father cast locus crucio on his son."

Nick's face showed no emotion.

"I'm Muggleborn, George. I have no idea what you just said."

"Locus Crucio is a spell to inflict pain on the victim if he is not within a certain location," George read, "The spell must be triggered by either a change of mindset, as its first use was to deter children from running away. To trigger the spell, the victim must touch something that is related to the change of mindset. In modern times, this spell is used to capture escaping Azkaban prisoners, for to escape it requires the prisoner to change their trapped mindset into one the seeks freedom, and by touching something that may assist in their escape, they activate the trigger and get inflicted pain, rendering them immobilised."

"So it's a shock collar."

"I suppose so."

"And Clay has one? It could be any spell and you're a hundred percent sure it's that one?"

"Think about it. I touched him and then I smelt crucio. I aided his escape from his father, by opening up my home to him. What else could it be?"

"How do we get it off Clay?"

"To undo the spell, the caster must either cease to live or undo the spell themselves. There has not been a way to remove the spell yourself."

"That means we have to find Clay's father and kill him?"

"We can always persuade him to release the spell on his only son."

"That's not going to happen."

"We can try."

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1007 words
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Alright probably going to be 2-3 more chapters before I end this book off. Thanks for sticking with me for the entirety of the book. Remember, an author is not an author if no one reads their stories. So hats of to you, my lovely readers!